


A Beat In Time

by paranormalbouquet



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 08:44:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13923531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranormalbouquet/pseuds/paranormalbouquet
Summary: “Just come back alive,” she said with her ear pressed up against his chest and hearing every beat of his heart.





	A Beat In Time

**Author's Note:**

> Set during "My Struggle IV" in season 11. Sure, we haven't seen it yet but it needed to be done. I was inspired by the line "just come back alive" in the final trailer.
> 
> Amazingly incredible feedback, edits, and the title were done by agoodwoman. This ficlet honestly wouldn't be nearly as good without her.

“Just come back alive,” she said with her ear pressed up against his chest and hearing every beat of his heart.

They are standing in peaceful, heavy silence in their living room. His scratchy cheek is nuzzled up against the top of her head, his cologne infiltrating her senses.

His hands are perfectly placed on her body in a way that makes her feel small yet still strong. His right hand is holding her close and resting on her waist while the left was taking slow circular trips around her upper back before finally stopping to park on her shoulder.

She shifted her head so her forehead was resting on his tight chest. Her arms remained tightly wrapped around his waist, trying to keep him there at their house together for as long as she can.

* * *

 

He kissed the top of her head and adjusted the hand that had just taken an adventure across her back. He moved it softly to the back of her head as he wove his fingers into her short, red hair. She tilted her head back to meet his gaze.

Just what she wanted to have happen happened and time stood still the moment they looked into each other's eyes. That fact comforted them both but were snapped back into what was to come and their shared gaze grew worried.

He took a big breath and she could see him try to curse away the darkness that had consumed them before. Her hands seemed to float against his body searching for the peacefulness again. Her palms moved to where her head had previously been, as her fingertips counted his heartbeat and reassured her of his vitality. She had listened to this heartbeat since their first case. It reassured her as her partner that she was okay in a dingy motel room in Bellefleur Oregon, during an embrace from a friend not willing to watch cancer take her from him and to the father of her child as he was revived from the dead after unspeakable tortures.

No matter the effort, the thought rushed in. She remembered being in a situation like this before but under different knowledge circumstances. That time she didn’t know. This time she does.

 _I’m not gonna risk losing you,_  rings around in her head.

 _I won’t let you go alone,_  repeats like a broken record.

It’s her turn to take a deep breath now, trying to expel those particular eighteen-year-old memories.

_Now is not the time._

She opened her mouth to say something. Instantly under her hands, she felt his heart beat faster and harder.

“It’s not just me… you need to come back home alive for,” she reminded him as she removed one of her hands from his chest. She reached around and grabbed the hand of his that had been resting on her waist.

Slowly but surely, she brought both of their hands into the small space between their bodies. She looked down at them and his gaze followed. Delicately, she slid her hand on top of his to guide his large, open palm to her abdomen. She tilted her head to look up at him but he remained transfixed.

He formed a smile that was sheepish and cheesy with eyes that are moved by the miracle of life taking place before him. Pure joy radiated off the love of her life. He looked at her with that same open-mouthed, awestricken smile she had only seen twice before. The first when he touched her enlarged belly while in the hospital and the second when he held their son for the first time.

This was a new beginning. A second chance.

As she moved the hand on his chest to rest on his shoulder, he used the hand on the back of her head to pull her in for a kiss. As the connection of their lips dies out, the energy most definitely doesn’t.

Their foreheads remained together.

They had another promise to make to each other, not unlike the one they embarked on ten years ago on a beach with sand on their feet and the sun on their skin. This time it would be for more than just each other - it would be for the life they created as another miracle to behold.


End file.
